LauncherOne

Virgin Orbit’s upcoming LauncherOne mission in 2021 will carry payloads for the U.S. Air Force and a 6U cubesat for the Dutch air force under a contract announced on 2021-01-25.

Q-PACE launched on 2021-01-17 as part of the Launch Demo 2 mission by Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne.

Virgin Orbit completed its readiness review and set a LauncherOne launch window for 2021-06-30 from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m. PDT, with the Tubular Bells: Part One mission GO for launch.

Two Missile Defense Agency cubesats launched 2021-06-30 aboard Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne successfully began communicating with ground stations by 2021-07-12.

Virgin Orbit, in a planned business combination with NextGen Acquisition Corp. II (NASDAQ: NGCA), entered into a memorandum of understanding with ANA HOLDINGS, INC. to procure 20 flights of the LauncherOne rocket.

Virgin Orbit plans to begin launching its LauncherOne rocket from a modified Boeing 747 taking off from Cornwall Airport Newquay in the summer following the report.

Astroscale and Virgin Orbit entered a partnership on 2024-11-17 to examine cooperation in space sustainability, including the potential to launch as many as 10 Astroscale missions on Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne over the next decade and to study a future joint satellite servicing mission.

Virgin Orbit planned a first LauncherOne mission from Oita that could take place as soon as 2023.

Oita Airport reached an agreement with Virgin Orbit in 2020 to host Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne air-launch system.

Virgin Orbit will send nine multinational rideshare payloads to orbit using the LauncherOne small launch vehicle and a modified Boeing 747 aircraft later in 2022.

Virgin Orbit will fly nine payloads to orbit using the LauncherOne small launch vehicle deployed from a modified Boeing 747 aircraft.

Virgin Orbit expects to launch QPS-SAR-5 on LauncherOne into a tailored, mid-inclination orbit to expand iQPS’s constellation coverage and revisit rate.

Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rockets are designed and manufactured in Long Beach, California and are air-launched from a modified 747-400 carrier aircraft.

Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne commercial U.K. launches will deploy payloads from Spaceport Cornwall using a modified Boeing 747 aircraft.

Space Systems Command and Virgin Orbit National Systems successfully air-launched seven Department of Defense research and development satellites for the U.S. Space Force on LauncherOne after taking off on 2022-07-01 from Mojave Air and Space Port, California.

LauncherOne rockets are designed and manufactured by Virgin Orbit in Long Beach, California and are air-launched from a modified 747-400 carrier aircraft called Cosmic Girl.

On its most recent launch, Virgin Orbit reduced manufacturing labor hours for the rocket by 25% and reduced time in launch operations by 9%.

Prometheus-2 Cosmic Girl is Virgin Orbit’s modified Boeing 747 that carries the LauncherOne rocket and will take off from Spaceport Cornwall to deliver two Prometheus-2 satellites into Earth orbit.

Virgin Orbit completed a full, wet dress rehearsal for its rocket on 2022-10-02.

Virgin Orbit’s most recent rocket completed its full wet dress rehearsal on 2022-10-02, three months after the successful Straight Up mission.